no i meant it was hard to remember that 0.0083% isnt the same thing as 0.83%, which i thought. Does oanda by the way, have widening spreads to 20? Thats only during news?
I'll ignore the first bit about .0083 and .83 Yes, Oanda widen spreads to anything they like just before and after data, 20 pips is the average. Oanda are good for some things such as minimum trade sizes but not so good for other things like spreads around news. They're your average bucket shop, I've seen worse.
10 pips is the most I've seen on the E/U. It last for 1 min or so. Remember the day is made up of 24 hours so if that 1-2 minutes is what makes or breaks you, consider another career. If you're trading many times a day for small amounts, I can guarantee you that widening spreads will be the least of your worries.
20 on Gbp/Usd, 25 on Gbp/Jpy, absolutely ludicrous spreads simply to dissuade news traders! Marginally better than their previous trick of disconnecting anyone who dared to place a trade on NFP but still far from what is available out there.
OK, since this the hottest forum topic of all newbies to the FX market, you tell me: Where do I go to trade the spike on NFP (or any initial spike on news for that matter) where the spreads aren't widened, where my limit/stop orders are guaranteed and where I will not get requotes or hung orders?
Nowhere will guarantee your stops/limits on NFP, not even Oanda, they all stopped doing that after FXCM got fined for misrepresentation! I think someone mentioned spreads on the last NFP on IB were 3 or 4 pips on the majors for a few seconds, most of the time on Eur/Usd they are .5 or choice, plus commission of course. Oanda has a lot of plusses for a new trader and I'm not saying they are all bad but they're in business to make money off your losses and they need to protect their bottom line, there is an incentive for them to make things difficult, ridiculous spreads is just one example.
I'm confused. If nowhere will guarantee my limit/stop orders during news spikes, why should I be concerned with widening spreads during news? And if ridiculous spreads is just one example, please provide all the other examples.
Now I'm confused, what is the connection between widening spreads and guaranteed limit/stop orders? Widening spreads: If you're in a trade already then widening spreads pushes your target further away and brings your stop loss closer, and if you're not in a trade but want to get into one you get a worse price. Is that good, I don't think so! Why widen spreads to 10, 15, or 20 pips anyway, it doesn't reflect the market and is solely for Oanda's benefit at the trader's expense. Hardly what anyone would call a 'level playing field' or 'transparent' which is what Oanda claim they offer. Guaranteed stops/limits: It's neither here nor there, they don't exist in 'volatile market conditions', period. There are lots of threads around various forums about Oanda and their business model, the arguments for and against are repetitive and to be honest non-productive. If you want to seriously discuss the merits (or otherwise!) of trading through Oanda then fine but I don't want to get into a pointless 'Oanda is great' argument. Personally I wouldn't touch them because I don't want to go into battle with my broker every day and I don't particularly like being shafted, but if you're happy then that's fine, enjoy